STEPHEN NOEL MCKENZIE ELDER – Transcript – ROYAL COMMISSION

by | May 2, 2018 | News

ROYAL COMMISSION INTO INSTITUTIONAL
RESPONSES TO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
Public Hearing – Case Study 50
(Day 250)
Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place, Sydney
On Thursday, 16 February 2017 at 10am
Before:
The Chair: Justice Peter McClellan AM
Before Commissioners: Justice Jennifer Ann Coate
Mr Bob Atkinson AO APM
Mr Robert Fitzgerald AM
Professor Helen Milroy
Mr Andrew Murray
Counsel Assisting:
Ms Gail Furness SC
Mr Stephen Free
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ANNUAL REPORT – 2016/17 AUSTRALIAN PROVINCE OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

by | May 2, 2018 | News

ANNUAL REPORT – 2016/17
AUSTRALIAN PROVINCE OF
THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

The safeguarding of all people in our care, particularly children and vulnerable adults, is a fundamental concern for the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus. In fact, there is no greater responsibility for those that care for others than keeping them safe.

It is clear to me that in the past we, and many other organisations, have failed the children and young people in our care. Appearing at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year reinforced the responsibility I have for ensuring that, in our Jesuit circles, this never happens again.

All within the Australian Jesuit Province are committed to this and we have taken practical measures to support this commitment. In 2016, we launched a comprehensive strategy to enhance professional standards for the safeguarding of children and young people. This strategy is detailed on our website – www.jesuit.org.au – and this inaugural report is part of our commitment to openly sharing our work. This Safeguarding Children Annual Report is designed toinform all people in the community of the initiatives the Australian Province has taken to ensure children and young people in our care are safer from harm.

Fr Brian F. McCoy SJ
Provincial

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Polonious Helps Investigation Startup Grow to National Heights

by | Feb 26, 2018 | Customers, News

At Polonious World in May 17, Paul York shared some thoughts about his firm, the Fraud industry and his company’s adoption of Polonious.

The use of Polonious has helped with everything from investigators in the field to administration staff and monthly reporting for all project managers

When Surefact Australia launched its national investigation services four and half years ago, the company had a good opportunity to procure a modern case management tool and avoid a collection of disparate apps.

Surefact’s target market is large organisations, including government agencies, insurers and corporate entities. The company offers services on both sides of the investigation fence, from factual point of views and surveillance.

Surefact Australia director, Paul York, says the company has been able to focus on building up a strong reputation as a premium investigations firm and started using Polonious from the outset.

“I still recall, only a couple of weeks after we commenced Surefact as an entity, speaking with Polonious representatives,” York says. “So really the entire time since Surefact was born, Polonious came into our business.”

Polonious started in a small capacity at Surefact and has grown with the business and has been tailored to the operations.

Efficiencies from case management to admin and reporting

Polonious has delivered numerous efficiencies within Surefact and is used extensively throughout the business.

“I couldn’t actually bear to think about business not using Polonious,” York says. “The use of Polonious has helped us with everything from our investigators in the field, to our administration staff, right through to our monthly reporting for all our project managers.”

The company is also reaping many financial benefits from Polonious, including the reduction of labour costs in regards to data entry and efficiency, which York says has “really been profound within our business”.

“To give it an actual figure, it would be difficult to say, but I can guarantee that it has reduced our labour costs with the efficiencies of everything from online reporting right down to not having data storage within our own servers – we’re putting them all in the cloud.”

Tell us about your firm?

Surefact Australia is a national investigation firm. We look at large organisations, government organisations, insurers and large corporate entities. We’ve been live 4 and a half years, going along getting an appropriate? reputation in the industry. We have a big push on from both sides of the investigation – factual point of view and also surveillance, so we’re fairly close to 50/50.

How long have you been using Polonious?

I still recall, only a couple of weeks after we commenced Surefact as an entity, speaking with Andrew Simpson so really the entire time after Surefact was born, Polonious came into our business. We started in a very small scale and I suppose Polonious has grown with our business and suited / tailored to our business as well.

What does Polonious do for you?

It gives us great efficiencies within our business. I couldn’t actually bear to think about business not using Polonious. The use of Polonious has helped us with everything from our investigators in the field, to our administration staff, right through to our monthly reporting for all our PMs

Have you seen any Financial Benefits from using Polonious?

I believe we have, the reduction of labour costs in regards to data entry and efficiency have really been I suppose profound within our business. To give it an actual figure, it would be difficult to say but I can guarantee that it has reduced our labour costs with the efficiencies of everything from on-line reporting right down to not having data storage within our own servers, we’re putting them all in the cloud.

How are you enjoying the conference so far?

The conference is great today, it’s great to see everyone from the industry here and also to hear from our friends in IAG New Zealand. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the day to see how our competitors and also other people in our industry use Polonious.

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Polonious Refines Processes, Removes Paper

by | Jan 23, 2018 | Customers, News

At Polonious World in May 17, Bob Lysaught shared some thoughts about his firm, the Fraud industry and his company’s adoption of Polonious.

The extensive features of Polonious, including monthly reports, provides all the information the investigation team needs

With a wealth of investigation management experience built up over the past 15 years, Brooksight Investigations had many opportunities to streamline its mature operations.

Brooksight has its head office in Queensland, but provides investigation management services throughout Australia for a number of clients, including most of the insurers in Australia.

Director Bob Lysaught says Brooksight is new to Polonious, with the application going into production in mid-2017.

“The new system was designed for us last year (2016) and we commenced using it on July 1, 2017, so it started with the new financial year,” he says.

Refining a range of processes (and cutting the paper)

Since adopting Polonious, Brooksight has been able to refine a range of different activities undertaken within the company.

“Just recently, through the use of Polonious, we’ve gone completely paperless which is saving us a lot of time and money,” Lysaught says. “A lot of features like the monthly reports provides all the information we need so we’re extremely happy with the way it’s going. Polonious has been a major attribute to our company.”

Saving time and materials with Polonious

With Brooksight’s transformation well underway, the company is now realising a number of financial benefits from using Polonious.

“The time used to process reports through the office has been cut down, therefore saving us money,” Lysaught says. “Actually, a major saving has been going paperless by using Polonious. That saved us money in paper and in printing and we are noticing a huge benefit from that.”

Full transcript of video taken at Polonious World 2017

Tell us about your firm?
We’re an investigation firm, our head office is based in Queensland but we’re providing the
services right throughout Australia now for a number of clients. We’ve been lucky, we’ve
been going for 15 or so years and we’ve now built up a clientelle of most of the insurers in
Australia.
How long have you been using Polonious?
We’re only fairly new to Polonious. It was developed for us early last year (2016) and we
commenced using it on the 1st of July. So it started with the new financial year.
What does Polonious do for you?
Polonious has been a major attribute to our company. We’ve been able to refine a whole
lot of different activities that we undertake within the company and just recently, through
the use of Polonious, we’ve gone completely paper-less which is saving us a lot of time
and money. A lot of things like the monthly reports provides all the information we need for
those so we’re extremely happy with the way it’s going.
Have you seen any Financial Benefits from using Polonious?
Yes we have. In a number of ways in fact. The time used to process reports through the
office has been cut down therefore saving us money. Actually a major saving has been
going paperless by using Polonious. That saved us money in paper and in printing. We’re
noticing a huge benefit from that.
How are you enjoying the conference so far?
It’s been fantastic. I’ve really enjoyed it. All of the speakers so far extremely entertaining
and relevant to the industry. I’m particularly looking forward to a couple of the speakers
this afternoon.

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Polonious Cloud Delivers Scalable Case Management

by | Jan 4, 2018 | Customers, News

At Polonious World in May 17, Jarrod Bowditch shared some thoughts about his firm, the Fraud industry and his company’s adoption of Polonious.

With more than 300 investigators managing cases stored in Polonious, Verifact achieves continuity of evidence and overall continuity of the business

Managing in excess of 10,000 insurance investigation projects per year at national investigation firm Verifact would be impossible without a cloud-based system that delivers end-to-end continuity of service.

Verifact is one of the largest privately-owned investigation firms in Australia and operates mainly in the insurance industry. The company has a national client base and services many lines of business, including workers compensation, compulsory third party (CTP), personal injury, general insurance, and motor vehicle insurance.

Early adoption pays dividends

Verifact executive director Jarrod Bowditch, says the company performs some 10 thousand jobs a year and has been able to do that with the help of Polonious for the past 11 years.

“We were a Polonious test pilots back in 2006,” Bowditch. “We’ve had a very, very successful relationship with Polonious. The last time we did a count we had about 90,000 cases in Polonious with some 1.5 million case notes.”

Pioneering cloud-based case management

With more than 300 investigators working around Australia, Verifact was an early adopter of the Polonious cloud-based application for case management.

“Polonious is the backbone of our investigations business,” Bowditch says. “We couldn’t operate without it because we’re national, it is cloud-based and we are able to manage our client’s expectations and service level agreements.”

Polonious enables Verifact’s investigators to manage each case properly and make sure the company is meeting its timeliness and service level requirements.

Paper and servers ditched for greater financial return

Bowditch says Verifact has seen many financial benefits from using Polonious.

“We’re a national business so we’ve gone away from paper-based processes and we don’t have to manage servers everywhere,” he says. “Also, a lot of our cases are stored in Polonious so we get continuity of evidence and overall continuity of our business. There are a lot of savings there, but basically it is better file management and process.”

Full transcript of video taken at Polonious World 2017

Tell us about your firm?
Verifact is one of the largest privately owned Australian Investigation Firms. We do about 10,000 jobs a year and we’ve been able to do that with Polonious for the last 11 years. So we’re in the Insurance Industry, we work nationally, we do all lines of business: workers comp, CTP, Personal Injury, we do a lot of general insurance, motor vehicles so all lines of business in the insurance investigation space.

How long have you been using Polonious?
We were one of your test pilots back in 2006. We’ve had a very, very successful relationship with Polonious. We do about 10,000 jobs a year. I think last time we did a count we had about 90,000 cases in Polonious 1.4-1.5 million case notes.

What does Polonious do for you?
Well it’s the backbone of our investigations business. We couldn’t operate without it because we’re national, it’s cloud-based, we’re able to manage our client’s expectations and also service level agreements. Also it enables our over 300 investigators to be able to manage them and make sure we’re on time with timeliness and also make sure we’re good with our service levels?

Have you seen any Financial Benefits from using Polonious?
Yes absolutely, we’re a national business so we’ve gone away from paper-based, we don’t have to use servers everywhere, it’ all stored in the cloud. Also a lot of our cases are stored in Polonious so we get continuity of evidence also continuity of our business, there’s a lot of savings there but also basically file management and process.

How are you enjoying the conference so far?
It’s fantastic. Looking forward to all the speakers today. The last one IAG was fantastic Dan Barrett was great. The improvements he’s see from the Insurance side of things are similar to the improvements we’ve seen from the Investigations. Being an external provider to large insurers, we get the same benefits. Looking forward to Joe’s talk later on.

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